Limketkai BN¹, Gordon M², Mutlu EA³, De Silva PS⁴, Lewis JD⁵. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2019 Dec 10. pii: izz297. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izz297. [Epub ahead of print]

Author information

1 Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA.

2 University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.

3 Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

4 Center for Crohn's and Colitis, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Endoscopy, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

5 Division of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Abstract

There is vigorous interest among patients, caregivers, clinicians, and scientists to identify useful dietary interventions for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Through the Cochrane Collaboration, we recently performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of dietary interventions for the induction or maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) to assess the latest state of research. The current quality of evidence was formally graded to be low or very low for various methodological reasons, such as small sample sizes, heterogeneity among studies, and incomplete reporting. There are nonetheless emerging observational studies that progressively advance our knowledge and provide hope for a role of diet among traditional therapies to improve inflammation and symptoms. Further investments and concerted efforts in research are needed to significantly move the needle in identifying effective dietary therapies for IBD.